UK snow chaos: some make it home, but thousands still stranded | UK news | The Guardian

Back in the UK, the row over the case for a multimillion-pound investment in snowploughs, de-icing equipment and salt stocks deepened with publication of a government-backed report by David Quarmby, chairman of the RAC Foundation, which quoted Met Office predictions that successive hard winters are rare. The report said the Met Office remained convinced that harsh winters do not come in clusters. Asked whether there should be concerted investment in snow-clearing equipment, following the third snowbound winter in a row, Quarmby said: "Are you happy to invest more in kit that may sit at the back of the depot and won't be used?"

His findings were contradicted by Sir David King, the government's chief science adviser from 2000 to 2007, who said ministers should plan for more cold winters. King, the chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, told Radio 4's Today programme: "My advice would be prepare for it [cold winters]. It may not happen but the risk to our economy is very significant if we are not prepared."

Global warming may also be having an effect, he added: "We are likely to get more snow because there is more moisture in the atmosphere due to global warming."

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Antarctica is likely to be the world's only habitable continent by the end of this century if global warming remains unchecked, the Government's chief scientist, Professor Sir David King, said last week.